Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Divine Economy

There are a few lucky people right now who are feeling financially secure. I'm assuming. I don't know these people, but the law of averages tells me that someone out there is living high on the hog.

For the rest of us, there are a few options: getting, or keeping, a job, cutting back on our expenses, holding off on big purchases. This is how most of us deal with the challenging economy.

There is another option.

The prosperity gospel has been with us for a long time. Working off of Bible verses such as Deuteronomy 8:18 — "But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day" — it promises that through devotion you will achieve a blessed understanding of the world, which can lead to reward on the Earth before it is meted out in heaven. Some of the famous promulgators of this faith include Oral Roberts, Frederick K.C. Price and Joel Olsteen.

Olsteen's Lakewood Church has the largest congregation in the nation, btw.

Next Saturday and Sunday, April 30 and May 1, the First Church of Christ, Scientist will be hosting Marta Greenwood. On Saturday, she'll be speaking on "Effective Prayer for Yourself and the World" at 2 p.m. in the Carnegie Room of Penrose Library, 20 N. Cascade Ave. On Sunday, she will be speaking on "God's Law of Abundance in the Divine Economy" at 2 p.m. at the First Church of Christian, Scientist at 325 N. Cascade Ave.

Greenwood is a lecturer and writer, with her columns appearing in The Christian Science Monitor and the Christian Science Journal.

From the press release:

At these talks, Greenwood shares real-life examples of how she and others, have overcome financial uncertainty through prayer. Explore a higher view of your bottom line that opens doors to seeing your real net worth as spiritual. Greenwood’s ideas are based on the Bible, the original sourcebook for Christian healing, and the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. The audience will hear ideas that expand thought- providing a catalyst of ideas for individual spiritual growth and showing how to tap into divine abundance.